At least 108 people have died as a result of Iran’s crackdown on more than three weeks of statewide protests brought on by Mahsa Amini’s passing, according to Iran Human Rights, an organisation headquartered in Oslo.
In separate battles in the city of Zahedan, in the southeast province of Sistan-Baluchistan, the Iranian security forces also claimed at least 93 additional lives, according to a statement from IHR.
Iran experienced nationwide unrest on September 16, when Amini, who had been detained by morality police in Tehran for allegedly violating the country’s severe dress code for women, passed away three days after going into a coma.
Anger over the alleged rape of a young girl by a police commander in the area sparked protests that led to violence in Zahedan on September 30.
On Tuesday, human rights organisations expressed concern over the severity of the crackdown in Sanandaj, the capital of Amini’s native Kurdistan province in western Iran.
“The international community must prevent further killings in Kurdistan by issuing an immediate response,” IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam maintained in Wednesday’s statement.
IHR indicated its investigation into the extent of the “repression” in Kurdistan had been hampered by internet restrictions and warned of an “impending bloody crackdown” on demonstrators in the western province.
“The city of Sanandaj in Kurdistan province has witnessed widespread protests and bloody crackdowns in the past three days,” IHR said, adding that its current death toll for the province excluded those killed in that period.
According to the Oslo-based organisation, 28 deaths have been reported in the province of Mazandaran, 14 in Kurdistan, 12 in Gilan and West Azerbaijan, and 11 in the province of Tehran.
According to the report, other kids who were demonstrating in the last week on the streets and at schools were also detained by the Iranian security forces.
“Children have a legal right to protest, the United Nations has an obligation to defend children’s rights in Iran by applying pressure on the Islamic republic,” said Amiry-Moghaddam.
IHR stated that because it was still looking into the incident, its death toll did not include the six people who reportedly died on Sunday during protests inside Rasht central prison in northern Iran.
It claimed that employees at the petrochemical plants in Bushehr, Abadan, and the southwest Iranian city of Asalouyeh had also participated in countrywide strikes and demonstrations.
